Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Floating with a composition of survival blanket pieces on the Whanganui River, I became a caretaker and guardian of the river, seeking balance within a fragile relationship between man and river, the precarious materiality of the pieces an ever shifting dialogue. Survival River Series speaks to the state of emergency faced by many rivers across the world and our complex role as poisoners and potential saviours.

There is something very fascinating to me that exists between ritual and habit; of the things we do habitually versus an act of ritual, it seems pretty murky and vague sometimes, maybe some old habits become rituals and some old rituals become habits - the conscious, unconscious, practiced and learnt knowledge that inherently develops our mentality and belief structure and the age old questioning of why we do the things we do? Man’s contemporary relationship with water is questionable, underscored by geopolitics; viewed as a resource to be used, polluted, wasted and consumed at a price all be it economic, social and environmental. The work seeks to quiet the imposed value of water within a capitalist structure, to evoke an alternative value and express a reverent positive memory exchange with the body of water existing within us and connecting us to the earths Rivers.

Sarjeant Gallery Podcast In this episode of the podcast host Sarah McClintock talks with artist Brydee Roods about her practice, performance art, and her new work in the exhibition Still Water Goes Stagnant.

Monsoon Prayer for Anjuna River - 'We Are Weather Series' | Brydee Rood 2016 | Site specific performance on the river steps by St Anthony's Church in Siolim during the Sao Joao Festival. A second Monsoon Project, following the rains and carrying the ritual bathing cloth from Cemeti Art House Indonesia to HH Art Spaces & Residencies Goa India 2016

Catalogue Text - HH Art Spaces & Residencies Open 9: Monsoon Prayer for Anjuna River is a ritual steeped in the fluid landscape, the artist leads a silent ceremony in the depth of Goa's Monsoon, a communication with the water echoing a sensitive human footfall between earth and sky, a slow meditative prayer for our rapidly changing climate. The old steps form a passage between man and river - by occupying this space, 3 bodies wearing hand painted clay Matka water-pots over their heads and cloaked in garments folded, draped, dyed with natural indigo and detailed with drawings which reference invented ritual, water and change gods - seek confluence within bodies of water, monsoon, patterns of climate change and the localised water festivities of Sao Joao. Geopolitically the action is underscored by the here and now, it is part of an ongoing movement titled 'We Are Weather' reflecting a yearning for our deeper connection with the natural world; the River, weather, to water as an essential life force, not limited as a commodity, resource, thing to be used, consumed, wasted, polluted and profited by in a flailing globalised capitalist system.

Indonesian Art Researcher Stanislaus Yangni writes: Rood’s intimate works evolve from an enduring personal passion with the natural world and ecological issues. During the residency, she choose water as an element to speak about human alienation with nature, and created a live bathing project in Sendang Kasihan, Bantul Village; her work was an encounter between mysticism, tradition, environmental change and peoples everyday habits relating with water. What is perceived today may not exist tomorrow… is the title of Rood’s installation containing 6 video works within a multi channel video and sound project. The Rainmaker (2 videos), Bodies of Water (3 videos) and Rain Keeps Falling (1 video) offer us a meditative perception.

The Rainmaker - a 2channel video installation has also been exhibited in Auckland's Malcolm Smith Gallery Uxbridge Arts and Culture in the exhibition Sacred Economies curated by Balamohan Shingade - reviewed by John Hurrel on Eye Contact with images of the exhibition on Arts Diary

Between Worlds is an interactive walking performance and live installation using 52 handmade flags created from saffron hued turban cloth, carried by people transforming into an ephemeral installation in the Auckland Art Gallery Pool. We were inspired by the Rama exhibit, lakes and rivers features prevalently in many of the Rama miniature paintings the acknowledging of water is also symbolic of a point of crossing from place to place, making a journey to The Next World as in the story of Rama and the title of the final chapter which has inspired our title Between Worlds. Between Worlds opens up a universal context and shifts between - crossing the divide from the Diwali Festival and Auckland Art Gallery and making journeys in life crossing oceans and cultures to new places and peoples. 1 tonne of river stones fills 52 buckets forming the resting installation.

The inspiration for the 52 flags comes from the Sikh tradition and story of Diwali, the narrative as a metaphor for the procession that we will make has many relevant crossovers to contemporary life, migration, climate change, displaced peoples, the act of coming to new lands; fusing these universal narratives together in a localised Auckland multicultural context and the unique platform which gives a voice to contemporary art practice and navigates both physical and theoretical space between the Auckland Art Gallery and the Diwali Festival.